1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital portable communication apparatus, such as a cellular phone, a PDA (personal digital assistant), an HHP (handheld phone), a camera phone, a game phone, or a portable phone having a TV function. More particularly, the present invention relates to a portable communication apparatus suitable for providing users with broadcasting, e-mail, chatting and game services.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, “portable communication apparatuses” refer to electronic appliances that allow users to communication with other users over a wireless network. In consideration of portability, designs of such portable communication apparatuses tend to be compact, slim, and light, while also providing a wider variety of functions including multimedia functionality. Future portable communication apparatuses are expected to incorporate even greater multi-functionality and multi-purpose utilization, as well as being even more compact and light. The portable communication apparatuses will likely be modified for various multimedia environments or Internet environments. Such portable communication apparatuses are now commonly used by all kinds of people including, men and women, the young and old, throughout the world, and are recognized as a nearly indispensable commodity which must be carried always.
Conventional portable communication apparatuses may be classified into various types according to appearance. For example, portable communication apparatuses are classified into bar-type portable communication apparatuses, flip-type portable communication apparatuses and folder-type portable communication apparatuses. In addition, the portable communication apparatuses can be classified into neck wearable-type and wrist-type portable according to their positions when worn on a human body. Further, the portable communication apparatuses may be classified into rotation-type portable communication apparatuses and sliding-type portable communication apparatuses according to ways of opening and closing the portable communication apparatuses. These variously classified portable communication apparatuses can be easily understood by those skilled in the art.
Modern portable communication apparatuses transmit data at a high rate in addition to voice communication. In response to consumer demand, portable communication apparatuses provide consumers with various services by using wireless communication technology capable of high speed data transfer.
Current design trends include a camera lenses for transmitting an image signal. Current portable communication apparatus models may have internal or external camera lens modules for video, or image communication or to photograph desired subjects.
Among the conventional portable communication apparatuses, the swing-type portable communication apparatus includes two housings coupled to each other while facing each other in such a manner that one housing can be opened or closed according to the swinging action of the other. Although the conventional swing-type portable communication apparatus has a display unit and a plurality of keys, since it is not equipped with a wide-screen viewing function, the user may feel inconvenienced when viewing the image displayed in the display unit or when manipulating the keys. If the portable communication apparatus is to provide users with various image-communication, game, music, broadcasting, VOD, chatting, and Internet services in various multimedia environments, the user should be able to use the display as a widescreen. Thus, the portable communication apparatus must be suitable for various user-interfacing environments.
Therefore, it is necessary to set the user interfacing environment of the portable communication apparatus in such a manner that the user can conveniently input/output data into/from the portable communication apparatus. In addition, it is necessary to provide a swing-type portable communication apparatus allowing the user to easily manipulate a display unit and keys thereof.